Looks like I'm ~36hrs away from delivery of my new Jazz Blue Charger Hellcat. But, the dealer just threw a curveball at me when they emailed me the following:

"[Finance] Will need to do a Credit Application (only top five lines) so they can register the car. "

I politely declined, since I'm paying cash. Doing what I do for a living, I'm well aware how atrocious cybersecurity tends to be at car dealers, and I don't welcome the opportunity for identity theft that this brings. Nor do I want the hit on my credit - part of the reason I'm paying cash.

Dealer came back with:
"Unfortunately, they have to have your SSN to sell you a car, even when paying cash. That is a government requirement. "

..but, at the end of the day, the car is in short supply, and the dealer already has about $40K of my money from the M3 pre-trade. They have the leverage so simply taking my money elsewhere isn't an option. I would like for the dealer to honor their agreement to sell me this car, with [built for] my name on the window sticker, without the new 11th-hour requirement of a credit check.

I assume they are asking for this because somebody was misinformed and created this unreasonable policy, and this can be resolved with reason and facts.

They have to report transactions over a certain threshold to the IRS if paid in cash...hence the need for a SSN. If you've paid cash before on anything of significant value (used to be as low as 10k), you have to provide a SSN.

Totally bogus.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just got the wife a new car, paid cash, they did ask for my SSN and I asked them why? Im paying cash, and declined to give it to them. The sales man came back after the deal was done and said that they wanted to run my credit and show me how much money they could make me if I took the cash I was paying for the car and put it in a CD .. LOL .. stupid car dealers.

a Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business (PDF). Form 8300 is a joint form issued by the IRS and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and is used by the government to track individuals that evade taxes and those who profit from criminal activities. Although the cash reporting requirements apply to many types of businesses, auto dealerships frequently receive cash in excess of $10,000 and are required to comply with the filing requirements.

Not a problem 1FSTCAT... I would love to see they sales guys face if some one rolled in there with 70k in
cash.
I really trust NO ONE with my/wifes SSN. I only use one lady at my CU. I worked for car dealers for a long time and some of the stuff F&I dose is not cool. If were talking about SSN, guys and gals..Keep in mind the 10 a hour person at you doctors office has access to you SSN as well. I recommend Life lock. It has saved me one time already. or really any type of credit service like that.

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